MORNING COFFEE

CBO Lowers GDP Forecast. CBO Director Elmendorf delivered bad news to Congress's "super committee" yesterday.  The Congressional Budget Office lowered its economic outlook and is now expecting growth of just 1.5% this year and 2.5% in 2012.  The CBO’s previous estimates were 2.3% and 2.7% respectively. Additionally the CBO said it expected unemployment to remain above 9% in 2012.

China Lectures The World. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao lectured the world by saying "Countries must first put their own houses in order” and that no one should rely on China to bail out the world economy.  He added that "Developed countries must take responsible fiscal and monetary policies."

Updrades

Oracle (ORCL): Susquehanna raised their rating from Neutral to Positive. Pre-market: 27.98 +0.26 (0.94%)

Lukoil (LUKOY):  JP Morgan raised their rating from Neutral to Overweight.

HSBC Holdings (HBC): Exane BNP Paribas raised their rating from Neutral to Outperform. Pre-market: 39.77 +0.06 (0.15%)

Downgrades

Nordstrom (JWN): Goldman Sachs lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral and lowered their target price from $55.00 to $50.00. Pre-market: 45.29 -0.37 (-0.81%)

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS): Exane BNP Paribas lowered their rating from Outperform to Neutral.

Barclays PLC (BCS): Exane BNP Paribas lowered their rating from Outperform to Neutral. Pre-market: 9.70 +0.22 (2.32%)

Coverage Initiated

Marsh McLennan (MMC): Ticonderoga initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $34.00.

Tata Motors (TTM): Jefferies initiated coverage with a Buy rating. Pre-market: 15.05 +0.13 (0.87%)

Coverage Reiterated/Price Target Changed

Bank of America (BAC): FBR Capital reiterated their Market Perform rating and lowered their target price from $12.00 to $8.00. Pre-market: 7.08 +0.08 (1.14%)

PriceSmart (PSMT): The Benchmark Company reiterated their Buy rating and raised their target price from $70.00 to $87.00.

Markets

Futures at 8:05: Dow +0.80%. S&P +0.76%. Nasdaq +0.95% Crude -0.65% to $89.60. Gold +0.27% to $1825.00.

Europe: London +1.52%. Paris +1.47%. Frankfurt +2.58%.

Asia: Japan -1.14%. Hong Kong +0.08%. China +0.55%. India +1.47%.